


Change

by kiyala



Category: Phoenix Wright
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-03-03
Updated: 2008-03-03
Packaged: 2017-10-12 02:26:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/119770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiyala/pseuds/kiyala
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Iris needs to realise that some things change. Edgeworth needs to know that some things won't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Change

  
She is already sitting at the table when he arrives. She looks tired, but calm. Her eyes brighten as he enters the room and he nods in greeting when she smiles at him. He glances behind him at the security guard, murmuring his thanks before taking a seat.

"You've come alone today?"

Phoenix nods again. His gaze travels around the empty grey room before finally settling on Iris, failing to find something else to look at.

"I…wanted to talk to you," he says lamely.

"Without the little one slapping you?" Iris asks with a hint of a smile.

Phoenix grins in spite of himself, absently rubbing his cheek where Pearl had slapped him last time they had come for a visit. _You're looking at her more than you're looking at Mystic Maya. You're cheating on your special someone!_ she had yelled at him with tears in her eyes.

The grin fades when he looks at Iris again. "I don't want Maya or Pearls to be around if we're going to talk about what happened in college."

Iris gives him a warm smile. "…Feenie…"

"Please, don't call me that," he says quietly, drawing his shoulders together. "I thought the last time I would ever hear that nickname would be that day when I was on trial. I'm not Feenie anymore."

She looks at him in confusion. "But I thought…"

"I'm Phoenix," he says firmly. "Nick. Wright. Mr. Nick, to Pearls. But I'm not… I'm not Feenie. So please. You're not Dollie – you're Iris. And I'm Phoenix. That's the way things are."

His words make her eyes well with tears. He considers apologising but she smiles at him.

"You've really grown over the past few years. I'm really happy to see it… Phoenix. Even after what my sister and I have done to you. You're a strong person. I understand. Things have changed."

Phoenix nods. "They have." More than Iris would understand.

"Can I ask you a question?" she asks, watching him carefully.

"What is it?"

"Mystic Maya…" Iris watches for a reaction as she says the name. "Do you love her?"

Phoenix pales as he realises what Iris is thinking. "No. Not in the way you're thinking. She's Mia's sister. She's like my own sister."

"But there is someone." It isn't a question. Phoenix shifts uncomfortably as he watches Iris think. Her eyes widen as she finds a possible answer and he interrupts before she can speak, standing up.

"I'd better leave," he says and she is silent for a moment, looking at him with surprise.

"Alright," she says and gives him an apologetic smile.

"See you later," he says quietly before the security guard escorts him outside.

He's in the lobby of the Detention Center, about to leave, when he freezes.

Because standing there, clearly waiting for him, is Miles Edgeworth.

"Wright," he says in greeting, stepping closer.

Phoenix's eyes widen and he tells himself to act calm.

"Edgeworth," he replies, cringing a little as he notices how shaky his voice is. "What are you doing here?"

Edgeworth's eyes narrow and Phoenix feels his heart momentarily stop.

"I went to your office to talk to you. You weren't there, so I came here on a hunch."

"Edgeworth—"

"If you're done here, Wright, I'll give you a lift to your office."

Phoenix gulps as the prosecutor turns on his heel and stalks out of the building. He follows, keeping two steps behind Edgeworth the entire way to the car. He sits in the passenger seat, avoiding the other man's eyes.

Edgeworth puts the key in the ignition but doesn't turn it. Sighing, he looks at Phoenix. "Maya and Pearl aren't with you."

"I came here alone."

"To talk to her?" It comes out a little louder than Edgeworth had intended and he regrets it when he sees the other man flinch.

Taking a deep breath, he tries again. "…Phoenix. You haven't gone to your office in days. You're usually still in bed until midday. And today, you left while I was in the shower, telling me that you were going to _work_. Why is that?"

"I wanted to see Iris. Alone. Is there something wrong with that?" Phoenix asks defensively. "Every time I told Maya that I wanted to see her, I'd end up taking her and Pearls along too—"

"You thought I would want to tag along?" Edgeworth asks.

"You going away soon," Phoenix says with a frown. "And I'm wasting time visiting someone—"

"Someone you loved," Edgeworth finishes for him. Phoenix freezes up and the prosecutor continues. "I didn't know about your relationship with Dahlia Hawthorne until just recently. I didn't know that you and Iris had been seeing each other for half a year until she confessed to swapping places with her sister. I didn't know anything because I hadn't bothered to ask. I noticed how uneasy you felt about Iris during the case. Finding out that the person you'd fallen in love with was still innocent all along—"

"Stop," Phoenix says shakily. "Stop it, Edgeworth. You don't understand what's going on."

"I do," Edgeworth replies. "I understand, Phoenix. I'm trying to make this easier—"

"Let's go home," Phoenix interrupts. "Home. And then we'll talk about this."

Edgeworth doesn't ask. He simply starts the engine and pulls out of the parking lot. The drive home is silent, but he is all too aware of the way Phoenix's shoulders shake. They walk into the house and Phoenix sits down on the couch. Edgeworth sits beside him, leaving some space between them.

"Phoenix," he says quietly. "You know, far better than anyone, how possessive I am capable of being. But with that said, I'm aware I'm going back overseas in another week. I won't be back for at least another year and in that time… well, Iris would have finished serving her time. You've lost her once already and—"

"Are you really that thick?" Phoenix asks disbelievingly. "Did I ever say I loved Iris?"

"The way you look at her says enough—"

"What about the way I look at you?" Phoenix asks, frowning. "When we dated.. _five years ago_ … I might have loved someone who I thought was Dahlia Hawthorne then. But that was a long time ago. Iris… knowing who she is helped me put it all behinds me. I never thought the girl I dated was capable of doing the things Dahlia had been convicted for. And I was right. I believed in her the same way I believe in my clients, Miles. And it took a hell of a lot longer than a court proceeding to put my mind at ease this time."

Edgeworth stares in wonder. "That's all?"

"That's all. I went to talk to her today to tell her that things were different now. I'm definitely not the same person I was five years ago. I'm not… her Feenie. That's what I wanted to say to her."

"Phoenix…"

"I don't care if you're leaving next week. If you're on the other side of world. If the sun's rising for you when it's setting for me. I love you and if you stop being so stupid, you'll know I'm right. I'm not settling for anyone else just because I can't see you whenever I like. I haven't done it once over the past three years and I'm not doing it now."

Edgeworth wordlessly pulls Phoenix into his arms, burying his face into the defense attorney's neck. "I feel like an idiot."

"You are," Phoenix snorts. "Thinking I'd pick anyone over you? Especially Iris? There are some memories better put behind us."

"Oh? Says the one who relentlessly tried to track down a friend from the fourth grade," Edgeworth murmurs, grinning.

"I said _some_ memories," Phoenix whispers in reply, kissing along his lover's jaw. "That was a memory worth clinging onto."

"I love you," Edgeworth says quietly, kissing the other man's neck. "And if you insist on clinging onto memories of such a foolish person, I suggest that we spend the coming week making several more."

  


x

  



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